Exodus 23:20-33 - Reasons For Loyal Obedience
20 Lo! I, am sending a messenger before thee, to guard thee in the way, - and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. 21 Take thou heed of his presence, and hearken to his voice - do not vex him,-for he will not pardon your transgression, for, my name, is within him. 22 But if thou wilt indeed hearken, to his voice, and so wilt do all that I may speak, then will I be an enemy to thine enemies, and an adversary to thine adversaries; 23 for my messenger shall go before thee, and bring thee in - unto the Amorite and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, - so will I destroy them. 24 Thou shalt not bow thyself down to their gods neither shalt thou be led to serve them, neither shalt thou do according to their works, - but thou shalt, verily overthrow, them, and, completely break in pieces, their pillars. 25 So shall ye serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless thy bread and thy water, - and I will take away sickness out of thy midst. 26 There shall be nothing casting its young or barren in thy land, - the number of thy days, will I make full.
27 My terror, will I send before thee, and will confound all the people amongst whom thou shalt come, and will deliver up all thine enemies unto thee as they flee. 28 And I will send the hornet, before thee, - and it shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. 29 I will not drive them out from before thee, in one year, - lest the land should become a desolation, so would the wild-beast of the field multiply over thee. 30 Little by little, will I drive them out from before thee. until thou become fruitful, then shalt thou take possession of the land. 31 So will I set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines and from the desert unto the River (Euphrates), - for I will deliver into your hand the inhabitants of the land, so shalt thou drive them out from before thee. 32 Thou shalt not make with them or with their gods, a covenant: 33 they shall not dwell in thy land, lest they cause thee to sin against me, - for thou mightest serve their gods, verily! it would become to thee a snare!